Microfiche storage magazines are often in the form of elongated rectangular boxes, with the microfiches accommodated therein parallel to the end surfaces. Two opposite side surfaces, e.g. the top surface and the bottom surface, out of the total of four side surfaces, are equipped with slide rails which engage the corresponding edges of microfiches. A third, at least partially open, side surface passes a mechanical unit such as a dog to push a microfiche to be extracted from the magazine out through the fourth side surface which is open.
The magazine is mounted to move parallel to its fourth surface relative to a microfiche extraction/insertion unit which includes a guide path. This makes it possible to choose the location from which the contents are to be extracted or, conversely, to choose an empty location in which a microfiche is to be inserted.
Such apparatus sometimes operates randomly and is therefore unsuitable to be incorporated in automatic equipment. Indeed, microfiches are usually produced on relatively flexible media and this prevents them from remaining absolutely plane. The result is that their mid portions bulge towards one or other of the adjacent locations. Such deformation is no hinderance when extracting since the dog can always be made to press against a portion of the end surface which is close to one of the guided edges. In contrast, such deformation can hinder and even prevent insertion of a microfiche in an unoccupied location adjacent to a location occupied by a microfiche that is bulging right into the unoccupied location.
Preferred embodiments of the present invention overcome this difficulty.